Urgent Call to Protect Children on the Move at UN Human Rights Council 2024

Geneva, 13 March 2024 – At the fifty-third session of the Human Rights Council, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, emphasized the urgent need to protect children in the context of migration and displacement. Her address focused on the theme of “Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, including the right to development.”

Dr. M’jid opened her statement by reflecting on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 15th anniversary of the mandate on violence against children. She highlighted the exacerbation of violence against children due to multiple crises, including conflict, poverty, food insecurity, inequality, and climate change.

Dr. M’jid lamented the global failure to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development's goal of ending all forms of violence against children. She pointed out the severe human and financial costs of this violence and called for increased national investment in violence prevention and child protection.

Throughout 2023, Dr. M’jid visited 12 countries, emphasizing the need for country-specific actions to combat violence against children. Her engagements with 39 Member States during their Voluntary National Reviews at the 2023 High-Level Political Forum resulted in a heightened focus on child protection in national and local plans, as well as in United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks.

The core of Dr. M’jid’s address was the protection of children on the move, irrespective of their migration status. She cited alarming statistics: in 2022, 14.6% of the 281 million international migrants were children, and as of June 2023, 43.3 million forcibly displaced persons were children. Factors driving displacement include conflict, political instability, poverty, inequality, food insecurity, discrimination, and climate change.

Dr. M’jid concluded by stressing the unprecedented child rights crisis the world faces and the critical need to protect children on the move. She called for concrete actions to ensure these children are safe, protected, and included in society. The upcoming United Nations Summit of the Future in September 2024 presents a unique opportunity to enhance cooperation and address global governance gaps, reaffirming commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Charter of the United Nations.

Ending violence is possible and realizable," Dr. M’jid asserted, urging immediate action to honor the promise to end all forms of violence against children by 2030.

Let’s act now, for and with children, leaving no one behind.

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Additional resources: 
Annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children: undocs.org/A/HRC/55/58
SRSG Presentation of the Annual Report to the 55^th Regular Session of Human Rights Council: Live-streaming

The UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children is an independent global advocate for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against children. Appointed by the Secretary-General in follow up to the UN Study on Violence against Children, she acts as a bridge-builder and a catalyst of actions in all regions and in all settings where violence may occur. The mandate of the SRSG on Violence against Children is anchored in human rights standards and promotes the universal ratification and effective implementation of core international conventions.

Read more: violenceagainstchildren.un.org 
Follow the work of the Special Representative on Twitter: @UN_EndViolence

For media inquiries, please contact:
Aniket Pratap Singh, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, New York. +1-991-118-3732 aniket.singh@un.org